The University Magazine

After 17 years, Formula team wins first competition in U.S.

After several years of top-five placements in international competitions, the RIT Formula SAE racecar team took first place among 81 teams in the 2009 Collegiate Design Series California event.

This was the first time the RIT team placed first overall on American soil. The team swept the individual categories in the weekend competition in June.

“We’ve gone to multiple events most years and have won the events in Australia and England, but until this year we had not won in the United States,” says Alan Nye, faculty adviser.

The 2009 racecar placed first in performance events for endurance, acceleration and skid pad. The group is also required to make a formal presentation about the overall design and development process as part of the competition. Teams competing at the California event included the University of Oregon, Clemson University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as universities from Sweden, Mexico, Korea and Venezuela.

The events are annual design competitions where college students design and build a small Formula-style race car. The RIT Formula team enters three competitions yearly with two in the United States and one overseas. In May, the team placed second overall at Michigan International Speedway in Detroit.